Planning Visit to the National Institute of Materials Science, Japan; To Establish Collaborative Research on Nanoscale Adsorption of Amyloid Beta Peptides

位于Geneseo的纽约州立大学学院的PI研究小组发现，在pH值4和pH值10之间，α - β涂层的金金属胶体呈现出一种准重复的颜色变化，其中仅在界面条件下产生的自组装的短暂中间体参与其中。在这个合作项目中，日本国家材料科学研究所将利用高分辨率透射电镜直接研究α - β聚集体与功能化金胶体表面结合的构象，以便在纳米尺度上直接阐明结构。本研究将回答1)为什么观察到的pH诱导的准可逆过程只发生在20纳米的金胶体上；2)为什么只在40和80纳米的金胶体上观察到有效的笼状构象。研究结果可能导致高选择性生物传感器的发展，并在癌症治疗和纳米医学领域产生长期的生物医学工程影响。该项目是一个长期国际研究合作的准备阶段，在这个项目中，顶尖的美国本科生将获得国际研究经验，并接触创新的生物医学工程技术。

The PI's research group at the State University of New York College at Geneseo discovered that the alpha-beta coated gold metal colloid exhibits a quasi-repetitive color change between pH 4 and pH 10, in which a short-lived intermediate of the self assembly created only at an interfacial condition was involved. In this collaborative project, the conformation of alpha-beta aggregates binding to the functionalized gold colloid surface will be directly investigated by utilizing high-resolution transmission electric microscopy at Japan's National Institute of Materials Science, in order to directly clarify the structure at a nanometer scale. This study will answer 1) why the observed pH induced quasi-reversible process takes place only for 20 nm gold colloid and 2) why an effective cage-like conformation of alpha-beta is observed at only 40 and 80 nm gold colloid. Results could lead to the development of highly selective biosensors and have a long term biomedical engineering impact in the areas of cancer treatment and nanomedicine. This project is the preparatory stage for a long-term international research collaboration in which top notch American undergraduates will gain international research experience and be exposed to innovative biomedical engineering technology.